Catholics' aim: Visibility at Capitol

When 1,000 Catholics from across New York State descend on the State Capitol in Albany on March 13, they want to make sure lawmakers know about it.

The annual Public Policy Forum, at which Catholics lobby elected officials on issues of concern, has a new twist: Participants will wear "Catholic voter" buttons, bring cameras to have their pictures taken with legislators and generally make extra efforts to be noticed.

"We're changing the focus of the day to one of visibility and presence in the Capitol," noted Dennis Poust, director of communications for the New York State Catholic Conference, which sponsors the event. The Catholic Conference represents the state's bishops in public policy matters.

Openness

In past years, Mr. Poust explained, most of the Public Policy Forum was held in the Empire State Plaza's Convention Center.

Organizers now realize that "wasn't making much of an impact on legislators," whose offices aren't even in the same building.

"Legislators and staff need to see these folks who travel hundreds of miles to be there," Mr. Poust stated. "We want [participants] to call legislators off the floor, hand out flyers, crowd the lobby. Those are the effective lobby days, the ones that get noticed the most."

Issues in focus

The agenda for the day focuses on seven issues of concern to Catholic voters:

* enacting tuition tax deductions for parents of students in independent and religious schools;

* opposing funding for human cloning and embryonic stem-cell research;

* expanding supports for low-income working families;

* boosting access to health care for the uninsured;

* protecting religious freedoms for healthcare and human service providers;

* increasing funding for education and treatment programs in the criminal justice system; and

* ending human trafficking and supporting its victims.

Education

In his executive state budget, Gov. Eliot Spitzer proposed tax deductions for parents of students in non-public schools.

Although Catholic officials called the Governor's plan a "very modest" savings, the Catholic Conference immediately changed its lobby day agenda issue from more extensive education tax credits to backing tuition tax deductions.

"The important thing is to get this into law. We can build on it in the future," Mr. Poust explained, adding that whatever gives parents more options in choosing their children's schools is a positive move.

Stem cells

The use of embryonic stem cells in research, which Gov. Spitzer approves, is opposed by Catholic voters.

Forum participants plan to point out to lawmakers that the proposed $2.1 billion budget for such research is a waste of money, since the research has not been proven successful and is morally objectionable.

The Governor "has been selling it as an economic initiative when there's no evidence the economy will benefit. It's also unethical and a bad deal for New York -- spending $2 billion on speculative research," Mr. Poust told The Evangelist.

Welfare and health

New Yorkers struggling to transition from welfare to work need support, and forum participants will lobby to keep what Mr. Poust termed a "fairly positive" proposed human services budget to boost self-sufficiency.

Investing in child care, housing, transportation and healthcare coverage for low-income working families is "a good investment for the state" that will help "get people off the welfare rolls permanently," he added.

The Governor's plan to expand healthcare coverage to all uninsured children in New York State got resounding approval from Catholic officials, and Catholics at the forum will add their voices to those lobbying in favor of simplifying Medicaid enrollment and recertification.

In fact, Mr. Poust noted, the Catholic perspective is that the state's healthcare budget is divided "pretty evenly in half [between] things we love and things we hate."

Religious freedom

Mr. Poust noted that religious-affiliated healthcare organizations are under attack. Already mandated to provide contraception coverage for employees, they could next be forced to provide abortions in Catholic hospitals or other procedures contrary to their religious missions.

The agenda for the lobby day notes that providers "should not be compelled to violate their religious teachings or to abandon their ministry to the sick and needy."

Catholic officials are also seriously concerned with proposed cuts to hospitals and healthcare institutions that would endanger their ability to serve their patients, since many facilities are already struggling to stay afloat.

When their budgets are cut, "it's the patients who suffer," Mr. Poust observed.

Crime and trafficking

Mr. Poust said that alternatives to incarceration, such as educational opportunities and addiction treatment programs, are crucial.

At the forum, he noted, Catholics will lobby lawmakers to pass Gov. Spitzer's proposals for increasing the state budget in those areas, with a focus on "making people productive" and re-integrating them into the community.

Human trafficking is an "invisible issue" for most New Yorkers, according to Mr. Poust. Even though New York's ports are access points for victims of human trafficking arriving in the U.S., many residents don't even realize the number of women and children being exploited in this manner.

"People think of [trafficking occurring in] other countries, but there are tens of thousands of victims in our own country," he stated.

Forum participants hope to draw attention to the scope of the problem and the need to penalize traffickers and provide social services for victims.

Visibility

The Public Policy Forum's schedule will be less structured this year. Aside from a workshop on the targeted issues, a special workshop for youth and a liturgy concelebrated by the state's bishops, most of the day will be devoted to meetings between participants and legislators.

Mr. Poust concluded that, for the 1,000 Catholic constituents taking time off from work or school to attend the forum, one message is crucial: "Be visible!"

(To register to attend the Public Policy Forum, go to www.nyscatholic.org or call 453-6650.)

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